The European Space Agency said the asteroid measured 70cm and was spotted about 12 hours in advance.

It was 200 times bigger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs nearly three billion years later.

The mission aims to re-visit the asteroid Nasa diverted when it crashed a probe into it.

European Space Agency say the asteroid, dubbed 2024 RW1, was "harmless" but created a "spectacular fireball".

Nasa likely has less asteroid Bennu material than first thought, but it still has plenty to analyse.

Tiny pieces of rock and dust from the object known as Bennu come to British labs for study.

The US space agency's latest mission will investigate a mountainous object made mostly from iron.

Scientists begin their analysis of the dusty fragments brought back from the Bennu space rock.